Powered by Babu!

In the end, as with most of the so-called scandals that leave the commentariat wringing their disapproving hands at the rest of us, the transition of Doctor Who from boy to girl was spectacular but brief.

In keeping with the modernDoctor Whotradition, the regeneration of one Doctor into another is accompanied by a spectacular malfunction in the time-travelling Tardis.

So television audiences got their first glimpse of Jodie Whittaker, who replaces Peter Capaldi in the iconic role, set to the backdrop of the Tardis’s systems exploding and its console room catching fire. It was short. And she said just two words: “Oh, brilliant!”

And it went over well with the fans. “I mean if I was Jodie Whittaker and I looked at myself in a mirror for the first time those would be my first words too,” wrote one wag on Twitter

Jodie Whittaker in her first appearance as Doctor Who’s first female incarnation in the Twice Upon a Time Christmas special. Photo: BBC

The regeneration scene came in the wake of a Christmas episode that managed to be both gentle and affecting, suffused with melancholy and dipped deeply into the themes of life and loss.

In it we said goodbye to Capaldi’s Doctor, and also to the very first Doctor, played by actor David Bradley, who was reprising a character originated by William Hartnell in the very first episode ofDoctor Who in 1963.

In the episode, we met both men on the eve of their regenerations.

Having the first and the latest on stage together gave this baton-change an unexpectedly poignant feel; Hartnell’s Doctor –originally described as “a crotchety old man in a Police Box”–is properly iconic.

It was time to bid farewell to Peter Capaldi (centre) and David Bradley. Photo: ABC

One of the episode’s lightest touches,the gentle mocking of the 1960s-era ofDoctor Whofor its subtle misogyny and its expectation that the Doctor’s female companions were there for little more than to scream at Daleks and make the tea,served as a cute foreword to what lay ahead.

By episode’s end a woman was not just centre stage, she was stepping into the role of The Doctor, the exclusive domain of male actors for its more than five-decade history.

Three Doctors: (l-r) Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt. Photo: Supplied

The announcement of the casting of Jodie Whittakerin July was greeted as a controversial event by a minority of fans and a vocal chorus of mostly conservative commentators.In truth, though the media headlines may not have always made it clear, in the mainstream of Doctor Who fandom the news was met with cheers of approval.

One of Whittaker’s predecessors, actor Colin Baker (the sixth Doctor), offered the simplest of explanationfor those wrestling with the idea that young boys had been robbed of a role model. “You don’t have to be of a gender to be a role model,” he said.

The change of actor within theDoctor Whonarrative was a plot conceit established in the 1960s when the actor who originated the character, William Hartnell, became ill and was unable to continue working on the series.

As a result, more than a dozen actors have now played the part on television, and a handful more in spin-off projects, standalone movies, radio serials and stage plays, among them Tom Baker, David Tennant, Jon Pertwee and Matt Smith.

But in historical terms two factors were consistent: the Doctor’s childish, obstinate nature, and his gender. The latter has now been torn to pieces with good humour, a wry smile and a touch of style.

But there are others, from Richard Hurndall and David Bradley, who played recasts of the Hartnell Doctor, to John Hurt’s War Doctor (a between McGann-and-Eccleston Doctor), Adrian Gibbs’ The Watcher (a projection of the future Baker-to-Davison regeneration), and Michael Jayston’s Shadow of the Valeyard, an evil future Doctor.

Throw in Peter Cushing, who played Doctor Who on the big screen in the 1960s, and Joanna Lumley, who played The Doctor inCurse of the Fatal Death, plus a half-dozen more, and you have a long and impressive honour roll connected officially and unofficially to British television’s most iconic character.

Whether Whittaker becomes the equal of the best – Baker and Tennant, has always been the prevailing thought – remains to be seen. But falling from the burning Tardis, in a classicDoctor Whocliffhanger, she’s off to a flying start.

She’s been dubbed the next big thing in golf and now European No. 1 Georgia Hall is looking to add the Canberra Classic title to her glistening resume.

The 21-year-old already looms as one of the players to beat in a star-studded field that will contest the Canberra Classic at Royal Canberra Golf Club on February 9-11.

Australian Ladies Professional Golf boss Karen Lunn has been overwhelmed by the sheer quality of the field with a host of top-line players to battle for $150,000 in prizemoney.

Solheim Cup stars Melissa Reid and Caroline Hedwall have also joined the line-up, and Lunn is expecting even more drawcards to sign on for the event in the next 10 days.

Englishwoman Hall left behind a sparkling amateur career to make the leap to the professional scene and she has already started to carve out a remarkable legacy.

“When she was a junior as a 16 or 17-year-old she was touted as the next big thing,” Lunn said.

“It took her a while to find her feet when she turned pro but she really had that breakthrough when she won the Vic Open in 2016, that was her first big professional win. Then [she] went on to have a pretty decent year after that.

“Obviously 2017 has been her breakout year, finishing third in the British Open, playing the Solheim Cup, winning the money list in Europe by a country mile so to speak.

“She is certainly recognised in golfing circles as one of the new really big things in women’s golf. You’re going to be seeing her name right up there.”

Hall claimed the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit title in emphatic fashion as she won more than double the amount of prizemoney of second-placed Spaniard Carlota Ciganda.

The Bournemouth product stood out at Solheim Cup level for Europe against the United States and her remarkable rise was acknowledged by her peers when she won the players’ player of the year gong.

Sydney will have a wet and cloudy start to the New Year, with rains expected to clear just in time for fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast the city will have a maximum of 26 degrees on Sunday and 28 degrees on Monday, with showers to linger on both days.

Rain is also expected in the city’s west, after a run of 30-degree days on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Penrith will have a warmer New Year’s Eve, with a maximum of 31 degrees, while a top of 35 degrees is expected on New Year’s Day.

Angus McLean-Smith, a meteorologist with Fairfax Media’s Weatherzone, said the showers would be intermittent.

“For the Sydney area, on Sunday – which is New Year’s Eve – we can expect a few showers throughout the day. Obviously with showers, there’s going to be a few clouds about as well,” Mr McLean-Smith said.

“Those showers should clear up in the evening, so it should be clear around about 12 (midnight).

“Moving into Monday, it should remain clear in the morning. In the afternoon, more showers are expected.”

Mr McLean-Smith said there is a chance of thunderstorms for Monday afternoon and night. Any rain that falls will not be “extensive”, with a maximum of 5mm expected.

“Temperatures on the Monday look to be warm,” he said.

Rain didn’t dampen enthusiasm at North Cronulla Beach on Wednesday morning, with locals and joggers watching the sunrise break through the clouds.

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.Read More →

If Australia’s topGoogle searches tell us anything, it’s that 2017was a tumultuous year.

The list is diverse, with searches ranging from slime and sport, to cryptocurrency, covfefe and hurricanes.

With that in mind, we’ve chosenthree standout Google searches fromthis yearand answered your questions with the help of experts.

If Australia’s top Google searches tell us anything, it’s that 2017 was a tumultuous year.

1. How to make slime without borax”How to make slime”was Australia’s most popular “How to”Googlesearch in Australia, with slime appearing four times on the list (1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th).

Right now there are over 6 million tags of slime onInstagram,making 2017 the year of the slime.

The question of how to make slime without boraxcan be answered quite easily -just mix cornstarch withwater.

But the real questionis,how dangerous isBorax?

Borax is soldas a household cleaning chemical and sometimes used as a pesticide, but it’s also the best binding agent for slime when it’s mixed with PVA glue.

Parental fear about Boraxwas spurred by anews piecefrom America about a young girl who reportedlyreceived chemical burns to her hands from playing withslime that hadborax in it.

Genevieve Adamo, a spokeswoman from theNSW Poisons Information Centre,says Borax is most concerning in its raw, powdered state.

“If it’s handled correctly and prepared by an adult then the quantities in the slime isunlikely to pose any risk of serious poisonings.

“There havebeen a couple of cases reported where people have gotten quite bad rashes or a burning sensation after playing with slime but we can’t be sure that borax was the cause.”

However, she says ingestion ofreasonably small amounts of borax powder can cause harm.

The NSW poison hotline advises parents to lock raw borax away from kids along with cleaning chemicals.Mrs Adamo says it’s important that any spare Borax solution is disposed of instead of being stored in the fridge, as it could be confused with water.

She says there hasbeen one case of a person accidentally making pancakes out of an old mixture of water and borax.

The number of calls regarding borax to the NSW poison info line has shot up 76 per cent in the past year.

2. What is MSG?MSG appeared twice in the list of Australia’s top “what is” Googlesearches of 2017 (1st and 7th).

This chemical is believedby many to be the cause of so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome(CRS).The syndrome was first described in 1968 by Dr Ho Man Kwok, who wrote in a letter to an American medical journal that he would get a strange numbness in his neck, back and arms, followed by heart palpations, after eating at a Chinese restaurant.

However, Chinese restaurants are not the only places you will find MSG.

MSG is a glutamate, which is a very common amino acid found naturally in foods that contain protein like meats and vegetables. In fact, our bodies produce glutamates in the process of metabolising food.

Glutamates trigger your “umami”taste receptors. Umami is Japanese for “pleasant savoury taste” and although it’s lesser known, it’s one of the five basic tastes.

But Dr Kwok’s research didn’t conclusively prove a link between MSG and the symptoms some claim to experience after consuming it.

In 2003, Food Standards Australia New Zealand concluded in a technical report that there was no convincing evidence that MSG hadcaused any reactions resulting in serious illness or death.

The real takeaway is this: the current scientific consensus is that MSG can temporarily affect a select few when consumed in large quantities on an empty stomach. But for the large majority of people, it’sperfectly fine to consume.

However, nutritionist Tracie Connor says MSG is dangerous for a different reason.

“MSGis added to foods to increase the desire to eat the food while increasing our appetite for it,” she says.

“This scenario is not what we need in an age where most Australians are overeating.”

She says MSG flavourenhancer is typically added to packaged and processed foods like chips and crackers and isdisplayed in ingredients as flavour enhancer621.

3. How to use Snapchat map”How to use snapchat map?” was one of the most Googled”how to” questions this year (7th), after the release of the new feature fostered both excitement and confusion.

The Snapchat”Snapmap”allows users to view the location of other users, as long as they have consented to their location being shared, however, many users were unsure how to access the feature.

To get into Snapmaps on the Snapchat app, users simply have to swipe inwards on the photoscreen, as though they are zooming out.

The featureoffers users the opportunity to view Snaps submitted to a communal Snapchat story from across the world, showing off user-submitted posts atspectacles like sporting events, celebrations, and even breaking news.

If the user wants to keep their location services on but not have people know their location, they have the choice to go into “Ghost Mode”.

While many embraced the map as an opportunity for relatable memes, others had serious concerns about security.

Founder and director of Future Human Academy, Dr KateRaynes-Goldie, saysthe difficulty with new features like Snapmapis keeping track of the information beingshared.

“This app didn’t have this feature before, so users constantly have to be vigilant about how the apps that they are using are changing privacy settings,” she says.

“We are already so busy so to have all these extra things we have to manage can be very overwhelming, especially for parents.”

Dr Raynes-Goldie adds that the app doesn’t give clear feedback about what information is being shared.

“The way that the app is laid out is confusing,” she says.

“Kids and parents might not even know that [the information sharing] ishappening because it’s not giving them that feedback.”

She sayssince the advent of Myspace in 2008,the discussionon privacy has shifted away from young people towards the population as a whole, due to the increasing use of social media by all ages.

AFR, GENERIC, ASXAustralian Stock Exchange — ASX, shares, investing, wealth, growth, economy, business, stock market, portfolio, all ords. Monday 14th April 2003photo Louie Douvis / ldz***AFR FIRST USE ONLY***The Australian sharemarket rose by a fraction on the first trading day after Christmas, led by franchisor Retail Food Group and gold miners.

Energy producers lifted as the oil price neared a more than two-year high; shares of Qantas Airways fell 2.5 per cent to $5.06 on oil’s rally.

Copper rose to the highest in almost four years as Chinese officials stepped up pollution-fighting efforts by halting processing plants. On the Comex in New York, copper futures gained for a 14th day, the longest winning streak in more than a year, to post the highest closing price since January 2014. OZ Minerals added 1 per cent to $9.08.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed at 6,069.9 points, up 0.2 of a point and flat in percentage terms. The S&P/NZX 50 index decreased 20 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 8374.43.

Retail Food extended a three-year, $150 million debt facility provided by NAB and Westpac, due to mature in December 2018, to 2020. The under-pressure owner of Donut King and Gloria Jean’s told the market that $100 million matures in January 2020 and $50 million in December 2020. The stock advanced 9 per cent to $2.51.

Seven Group, the company behind WesTrac and Coates Hire, added 2.7 per cent to $15.61.

Microcap Pepinnini Lithium surged 32 per cent to 8.3??, triggering an ASX query. The company is awaiting sample analysis and in talks around an acquisition of mineral exploration tenure in Argentina.

Engineering group WorleyParsons expects a one-time charge of up to $60 million against its first-half profit following the reduction in the US corporate tax rate. This relates to a reduction in the group’s US deferred tax assets due to the decrease in both the US corporate tax rate and the potential loss of currently available deductions in future years, the company said.

WorleyParsons shares rose 0.6 per cent to $14.65.

Meanwhile, Oroton’s administrator has accepted a purchase proposal from its largest shareholder, a company controlled by fund manager Will Vicars, that will keep the luxury handbag retailer trading and prevent a break-up of the embattled business. The stock last traded in November.

In offshore markets, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell the most in a week on Tuesday, and the S&P 500 edged lower, with Apple and its suppliers among the worst performers on downgraded iPhone X sales estimates.

Emerging-market currencies strengthened as commodities posted the longest winning streak in more than a decade.

The major European stock exchanges were shut and markets overall were quiet as the stellar year for risk assets crawls to its end, with the possible exception of the cryptocurrency roller coaster. Next year could bring more drama, with tensions simmering between the US and Russia, Italy’s parliament set to be dissolved for a risky European election, and a big decisions on the US debt ceiling kicked down the road. What moved the market:

Slick

A pipeline blast in Libya and a bullish budget forecast in Saudi Arabia boosted crude prices to levels not seen since mid-2015. West Texas Intermediate crude neared $US60 a barrel as futures in New York and London reached the highest in more than two years. A pipeline run by Waha Oil that carries crude to Libya’s biggest export terminal exploded Tuesday, dropping the country’s output by 70,000-100,000 barrels a day. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is said to expect oil revenue to rise 80 percent by 2023.

Que Sera, Syrah

Syrah Resources continued its strong end-of-year run adding 1 per cent to $4.44 on Wednesday upon disclosing the first production of bagged saleable fines graphite from the Balama Project in Mozambique. That follows a sales agreement for 20,000 tonnes of natural graphite from Balama to a China-based buyer announced earlier this month. Syrah raised $110 million in September. The stock’s strong interest lately is linked to a bullish market for lithium and graphite’s application in the anode of lithium-ion batteries.

Cruising

The Australian dollar was slightly stronger, trading at US77.37??, untroubled by data that showed profit growth at Chinese industrial firms slowed in November. Industrial profits rose 14.9 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with previously reported 25.1 percent in October, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday. Robust demand and consistent factory inflation have lifted profitability this year.

Stock watch: Cochlear

Shares of Cochlear trade at a 20 per cent premium to Morningstar’s fair value estimate of $148 apiece, fetching $174.05 on Wednesday. At that level, the market is implying a five-year compound annual growth rate of 13.5 per cent on revenue, and pricing the stock at 39 times earnings. The hearing implant maker has one of the widest moats in the Australian healthcare industry, meaning the competitive landscape is favourable to Cochlear. Supporting this is the company’s strategy to engage directly with recipients. However, “we think the market is underestimating the threat of new entrants encroaching on the emerging China opportunity where government tenders have provided newcomers an entry point based on price,” Morningstar warns. Its bear case valuation is $108 a share, and bull case $187 a share.

With AAP, Bloomberg

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.Read More →

Good-Hearted: Myles Young, of the University of Newcastle, will run a project on reducing the risk of heart disease. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers Exercise would be the most widely prescribed medication on earth if it could be condensed into a pill, University of Newcastle researcher Myles Young says.

The benefits of exercise are paramount in Dr Young’s new program to tackle a trio of serious health problems in men.

“Obesity and depression are two of the largest contributors to heart disease in men,” Dr Young said.

THURSDAY, December 28, 2017, marks the 28thanniversary of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake, an event that will stayforever in the minds of those who lived through it.

It is a day seared into the brain of every person who found themselves that morning in the city centre, or in Hamilton, or the various other hot-spots of shaking and damage that radiated across the region.

Despite its importance to those who were there, the relentless march of time means that a generation of adult Novocastrians will go about their business this anniversary with no direct experienceof one of the most extraordinary periods of our history.

For them, and for children and teenagers today, the 1989 earthquake is a matter of history, something to be experienced through story, or film footage, the written word or photographs, rather than something that was felt through a dawning realisation that the world was shaking, and that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

If there was one extraordinary aspect of that earthquake, it was that so much damage was wrought across such a broad area, with only 13 deaths and 160 or so taken to hospital.Coming three days after Christmas, it meant the city had far fewer workers than would normally be the case. People were out of the areaon holidays. The evening of the 28th, rock band Split Enz had been scheduled to play in the main auditorium of the workers club, which collapsed, its roof hitting the floor, in the shaking. As bad as it was in the end, things could have beenmuch worse.

As is often the way in times of adversity, the earthquake became a salve for our community –a community that pulled together when things were at their worst. In this era of hi-visibility vests and endless workplace safety protocols, it is worth remembering that much of the work on quake day was done by volunteerstoiling alongside the official rescue services.

Everyone who could, pitched in.

It took literally years for the scars of the damage to be erased from the streetscape, and history shows it was the flood of insurance money that poured into the city –reckoned at the time to be more than $1 billion –that began the rejuvenation of the inner city and its surrounding suburbs.

Todaywe live in a very different-looking Newcastle, with stronger building codes. Even so, we arestill a city susceptible to the unpredictable tectonicforces of nature.

And now Tobin is on a mission to expand our knowledge beyond that rudimentary vocabulary, breathing fresh life into the ancient Darug language.

Along with Joel Davison, a Gadigal and Dunghutti man, she is gearing up for a second year teaching Darug at a Sydney Festival program called Bayala, after the Darug word for “speak”. The program includes classes, an exhibition of historical records and a singing ceremony.

“I believe our ancestors are walking with us and trying to bring the language out of our mouths,” Tobin says.

Last year, Bayala was a huge hit with festival-goers, with spots selling out within the first week. This year, the number of beginner places has been doubled and organisers have added a more advanced course focusing on grammar and language structure. Both will be run in Parramatta as well as in the CBD.

The enthusiastic students covered a broad range of ages and ethnic backgrounds and even included an Irish professor who was interested in how Australia’s language revitalisation efforts compared to those of Ireland.

Tobin and Davison have reconstructed the sounds of the language from written historical material.

“We don’t have native speakers any more who have learnt it since childhood, that we can just grab and say, hey, teach these classes,” Davison explains.

Language revival and reclamation has generated a host of startlingly diverse benefits for Indigenous communities.

“There have been studies that have shown that when you give an ethnic minority that have lost their language their language back, it results in a lot of health improvements and resolves a lot of issues they have with cultural and personal identity,” Davison says.

Ahmar Mahboob, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney, agrees.

There have been similar findings from indigenous communities around the world.

Researchers in Canada, where suicide rates in First Nations communities are up to 11 times the national average, found rates of language competence could be used to predict the suicide rate of a community more accurately than many other cultural factors.

In communities where most members could speak their language at a conversational level, the suicide rate dropped almost to zero – below the national average.

Closer to home, at the University of Adelaide, linguists and medical researchers are investigating how language revival in the Barngarla community correlates with incarceration rates, school performance and even the prevalence of diabetes.

Mahboob and Professor Jakelin Troy, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at the University of Sydney, are planning ambitious research with indigenous communities from Asia, Europe, South America and Australia to explore the relationship between health and wellbeing and indigenous language use.

While Mahboob calls the Bayala programs “a fantastic initiative”, he also stresses the need for an expanded approach to language revival that emphasises practical, real-life applications, “such as through mother tongue-based multilingual education and integrating Indigenous languages into the linguistic landscape of the communities”.

Tobin and Davison, who also work with schools throughout the year, have noticed that teachers themselves are among the keenest to learn.

“The thing that I’m most proud of is that consistently in our classes there were educators, and they ranged from preschool educators, to K-6, to high school and university educators,” Davison says.

“Most everyone that has come [to the classes] sends the message to me that it gives them something to be proud of beyond 200 years of white Australian history,” he says. “In our eyes, 200 years is a very short period of time.”

The Bayala language courses will take place on January 10-12 and 23-25 in the CBD, and January 17-19 in Parramatta, while free one-hour language classes will be held on January 6, 13 and 20 in the CBD, and January 14 in Parramatta.

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.Read More →

History was created in Adelaide a few weeks back with the first day-night Ashes Test (for men) but we’re unlikely to see one played under lights in the 2019 series.

Despite the concept’s success in Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board is keen to stick with tradition when it comes to cricket’s oldest rivalry.

It is a surprising stance given the success of the maiden day/night Test held on English soil, against the West Indies, this year. Despite finishing in three days, host club Warwickshire, which exceeded its commercial targets, gave the game a resounding thumbs up.

The 2019 series will start later than usual due to the World Cup, also held in England, not finishing until July 15.

While the ECB is keen to continue floodlit Tests, they may deem the pulling power of the Ashes sufficient to draw a decent crowd.

“It’s to be decided but it’s unlikely to be honest,” ECB chief Tom Harrison said on ABC Grandstand. “We’ve got a formula which works brilliantly well for us in Ashes cricket in the UK. Right time, right place, right conditions are the rules for day/night Test cricket. We’ll wait and see but unlikely, I would say.”

Boxing Day Test reunion for Marsh, Curran

Tom Curran joked that the only way to make up for missing out on David Warner as his first wicket would be to get Steve Smith instead.

That he did, though it would also have been fitting had his maiden Test scalp been Mitchell Marsh.

The pair have history, of the good kind, we must add. It dates back to Geoff Marsh’s time as coach of Zimbabwe from 2001-04, and Kevin Curran his assistant.

When the Currans were kicked off their family farm by Robert Mugabe, they were taken in by Marsh, who was living in a house in Harare belonging to the Zimbabwe cricket board. Mitchell was also there at the time and became good friends with Tom and his younger brother Sam, who is also a player of promise.

The trio will be reunited next year after Marsh signed a contract to play at Surrey for 2018.??? Lovely news this morning that @mitchmarsh235 is coming to @surreycricket next year, great memories of us all growing up [email protected]_TC59pic.twitter南京夜网/NSZ4Ru0nw2??? Sam Curran (@CurranSM) October 20, 2017 Photo: Reuters

The Tonk is hoping Bouchard sees the ball better at Melbourne Park next month.

This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.Read More →

The Eaglehawk CFA captain suspended after a female teenage volunteer was allegedly manhandled has resigned from the firefighting organisation.

Hayden Allen, who was one of four men suspended earlier this monthwhile an investigation into the November 25 incident took place, quit the organisation last week.

It is understood Mr Allen resigned because of concerns he had about the way CFA management handled the investigation.

News of the investigation and the men’s suspension was revealed by the CFA on December 6.

Hayden Allen

CCTV footage from inside the Eaglehawk station showed the men pulling the hair of the 17-year-old girl, pushing her to the ground, feigning to kick her and rolling her under a truck to wet her with the its sprinkler system.

Several other bystanders watched the incident take place but did not intervene.

It is believed none of the other three suspended volunteers have quit the CFA at this time.

First LieutenantDuncan Murley will now take on the role of captain.

Police who investigated the incident laid no charges, saying the young woman did not want to pursue the matter.

Still, CFAchief officer Steve Warrington said the behaviour of those who made contact with the girl, as well as those who watched on, was unacceptable.

“People, this stuff belongs in the past, full stop,” he said in a video message earlier this month.

“We can’t tolerate this behaviour in CFA anymore.”

A CFA spokesman today said the investigation was still underway and that it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.

Mr Allen was also contacted but declined to comment.

The allegations against the suspended men renewed calls from political leaders for the release of aVictorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report on theculture of the state’s fire services.

Previously subject to a court challenge from the United Firefighters’ Union, the report is now set for release next month after VHREOC was deemed to have both the power and appropriate methodology to studyequity and diversity in the CFA and MFB.

“[The]decision means that the stories, experiences and insights from men and women across the CFA and MFB will be heard, and will help set the agencies on a meaningful path of cultural reform,” commissioner Kristen Hilton said after the court handed down its decision.